GOOD READING JULY 2011 15
BEHIND THE BOOK
from my starting point in Cashel, my feet
were blistered and in agony.That was the
hardest day of walking and fortunately it
got easier after that.
As I ambled through the Irish
countryside -- along river banks and narrow
country lanes -- I loved seeing honeysuckle
weaving its way along the top of the
hedgerows, the purple flowering heather on
the mountains and finding majestic foxgloves
growing beside cushions of velvety moss and
bubbling streams.
Before I left on the jour ney a friend
suggested that I talk to the other pilgrims
I met along St Declan's Way
and find out why they were
doing the walk. I passed many
ruined churches and raths --
circular fortified settlements
that once contained huts in
which people lived (now they
are believed to be inhabited
by fairies). But I never found
another pilgrim. Bashing my
way through brambles and
nettles I often felt as if I was
the only person to have ever
ventured along the route. But
at other times, as I walked
along a dirt path flanked by
high stone banks on both
sides, it became clear that this
was a way well trodden by
many people over hundreds
of years.
Midway along St Declan's Way lies the
town of Lismore. When I left school my
father got a job working for the Duke of
Devonshire and we moved into the east
wing of the magnificent Lismore Castle. My
mother referred to our living quarters as
'the train'. A long cor ridor on the first floor
ran the length of the east wing and rooms
led off it. The Duchess, now the 91-year-old
Dowager Duchess, is the youngest of the
six famous Mitford sisters, and the reason
for the unusual layout of our new home
was because her sister, Lady Diana Mosley,
stored her fur niture in the rooms below.
Diana married Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of
the British Union of Fascists, and the couple
entertained Adolf Hitler as a guest of honour
at their wedding.
I was awestruck to be living somewhere
so steeped in history. Prince John, the son
of King Henry II, built the castle here over
800 years ago. In the 16th century it was
owned by Sir Walter Raleigh, that favourite
of Queen Elizabeth I, who is credited with
having brought the potato back from the
Americas. Before the castle was built this
was the site of a huge monastery that had
been renowned as a great centre of lear ning
throughout Europe. Intrigued, I went to
the local library to lear n more and dreamt
of writing a book about this part of Ireland.
But I also wanted to be an actress so I left
Lismore, went to acting school in Dublin
and started working there in the theatre.
It was only when I walked St Declan's
Way many years later with the idea of
writing a book about my experience that I
realised that my forgotten dream was now
being fulfilled. Following St Declan's Way
was a fascinating journey, not only through
the local history of the area, but also Irish
history as a whole.
St Declan, who lived in the 5th century,
is thought to have been born just outside
Lismore. He was one of the four saints
believed to have preceded Ireland's national
apostle, St Patrick, in spreading Christianity
throughout the country. He converted
the people of the surrounding area to
Christianity and founded a monastery on
the coast at Ardmore.Whenever my mother
and I would go to Ardmore we would walk
down to St Declan's holy well and visit the
ruined cathedral and the little stone oratory
beside it where the saint is believed to have
been buried. Ardmore has always been a
magical place for me.
The summer of 2008 was the wettest in
Ireland for 150 years and it was bucketing
with rain on the day an artist friend of mine,
Wishy Martin, had decided to walk with
me. As we settled into a steady pace she told
me about learning to walk mindfully during
her recent stay at Plum Village, the Buddhist
centre in France run by the inspirational
Vietnamese monk and author Thich Nhat
Hanh. Despite the wet I was captivated as
I listened to her talk about art and creativity
and her practice of Buddhism. It made me
so aware of the importance of spending time
with friends when shortly afterwards she was
diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour
and died 18 months later.
On another day I met a
friend at the annual Tallow
Horse Fair in the small town
of Tallow. It was packed with
horses. Horses of every shape,
size and colour were being led
or ridden up and down the
narrow main street. Horses
and donkeys were tethered to
trees or tied together while
people huddled in groups
negotiating prices.
We ate lunch at the
little Latch Restaurant and
at the same table sat a man
who worked at the donkey
sanctuary. He told us that
a donkey that smoked had
recently ar rived. It enjoyed
puffing on a cigarette and a
pipe, because apparently its owner used to
share them with the animal. The donkey
definitely inhaled, he recounted, because the
smoke came out of its nostrils.
As I continued walking along St Declan's
Way I met more intriguing characters and
heard many more stories -- of miraculous
wells and talking statues, of goddesses, ghosts
and mischievous fairies. I got lost many
times -- including in the Bog of Hags on my
way to St Declan's Well of Tour, known
for its healing water. Perhaps it was the spirit
of St Declan that guided me back from these
inadvertent sideways excursions and led me
safely to my ultimate destination
of Ardmore.
Castles, Follies and Four-
Leaf Clovers: Adventures
along St Declan's Way
by Rosamund Burton is
published by Allen &
Unwin, rrp $24.99.
A depiction of St Declan on
a signboard in Ardmore
The author and the ruined
cathedral and round tower
at Ardmore, Ireland.